However he sparked confusion yesterday by insisting the Brexit deal struck by Theresa May was "more than legally enforceable".

Mr Verhofstadt, who is the European Parliament's Brexit negotiator, took to Twitter to make clear his anger at Mr Davis's comments.

He said MEPs would move to enshrine the agreement into law “ASAP”, and published an amendment on the deal which says “negotiations must be conducted in good faith" and that talks "can only progress during the second phase if the UK government also fully respects the commitments it made…”

Remarks by David Davis that Phase one deal last week not binding were unhelpful & undermines trust. EP text will now reflect this & insist agreement translated into legal text ASAP #Brexit

A Downing St spokesperson said: "The Secretary of State set out yesterday that the Commission agreed with him that the agreement that was reached last week is a political agreement but that will move forward into a withdrawal agreement that will be legally binding."